With the goods loaded, Karl was ready to leave for their next destination, but it seemed too fast to be in and out of town. They should at least look around at a few other spots, and not just stop in at one merchant and bolt like they were running from something.
So Karl didn’t turn Thor directly around, he made a small loop through the surrounding streets to go by a fish and chips vendor and grab a bite to eat. They weren’t hungry yet, but it would be the usual thing for a travelling merchant to do, even if they were in a hurry.
The vendor was happy to make an early morning sale just as he was getting the fryers heated for the day, and Karl left with plenty of food for the day, wrapped in crudely made straw paper.
It smelled delicious, and they had two healers with them, so once Karl had taste tested it for poison, everyone started a second breakfast.
The guards didn’t even give them a second look as they headed south out of town and headed toward Lutonade. The road was little more than a well-worn wagon track, and didn’t show much sign of improvement in the last few decades. The road north of town was better, so it was possible that the travellers in this area often split up to take other routes and avoid bandits.
That seemed like a good idea to Karl. If they went a bit inland of the current road, they would eventually meet up with the main road heading east. It was harder for bandits to guess how far you would be from the road, and if they had to come to you, the ambush was ruined. Karl’s team was on the strong side for this continent, and even on the other one, he would be able to hold his own with a group like this. At the very least, they weren’t a soft target or tempting to bandits who didn’t have a death wish.
Karl led Thor off into the open grasslands, and kept him at a cautious trot, both for the sake of the passengers and the wagon itself. It was a good one, but it was still just a regular wooden wagon. If they abused it too hard, they did risk damaging it before they got where they were going.
That would be a nightmare for them all, and they would have to walk the rest of the way unless Lotus’ magic could fix a wagon. It was good for growing and altering wooden things, so it was possible, but Karl didn’t want to risk having to find out in the middle of nowhere with a broken wagon.
Fortunately, the ground was open grasslands, with only a few stands of trees, and they were able to make good time. Even at this pace, it would take almost all day to get past Lutonade, and they would still be uncomfortably close if they didn’t detour further east.
So, any time that there was an obstacle, Karl led Thor to the east of it, getting further from the road which stayed close to the coast.
Just after the sun passed its zenith, marking midday, they found a pounded path that went southeast. There were no markers for where the tribal and nomadic villages were, but this looked like an entire army had passed by multiple times.
It hadn’t crossed their path earlier, so at some point it must have turned, but it was going in generally the correct direction to avoid the pirate port. The only problem was that it might lead to an army camp, or a slaver village that wasn’t marked on the map.
“Are we really going to follow the path of an army?” Dana asked as she realized what Karl was doing.
“It doesn’t look fresh. See how the weeds are regrown? The path was used multiple times, but not in the last month or so. At least not by a full army. It might have been the path to and then from an attack.” Tessa noted.
If that was the case, there was a fifty-fifty chance that they wouldn’t come across anything because the target would have been destroyed or moved by now. The tribes in the area were all nomadic, they wouldn’t stay in one spot that long during the summer, when they were mostly stocking food for the winter.
The pounded ground made it easier for Thor to drag the wagon along, and the ride became smoother for the passengers as the afternoon began to fade into evening. That was when they found the main road and turned east toward their destination.
Thor would do well enough in the twilight, and then Karl would stop for the night. It would not only be too suspicious to be moving at night, but it would put them too far ahead of schedule.
As it was, they were making better time than expected, so they didn’t need to hurry tomorrow.
They were still in open grassland, without a hill in sight, when the sun finally went under the horizon.
“We will park beside the road tonight. We can start a fire if you’d like, and sleep in the wagon with the Naga and Golems on guard, with Rae watching the area. Chances are nothing will sneak up on us during the night, Hawk doesn’t see anything close to us at all.
But if it does, we’ve got early warning covered.”
The others just shrugged. They had confidence in Rae and her ability to find anything that might sneak up on them in the dark. She was the monster that every other monster was terrified of in the dark.
Karl parked, and the clerics went to gather what wood they could from a nearby stand of trees. They didn’t need much, just a small fire to give them light while they ate. Everyone would be sleeping with barriers up and in their armour, so there wasn’t much evening prep to be done.
Then they would the extra wood to make a breakfast fire. That would be enough to get them all motivated.
“Where is everyone sleeping? The wagon isn’t huge.” Lotus asked.
Dana gestured to the floor. “I will stay here with you, and one other.”
Ophelia gestured outside. “I am going to sleep in Dire Bear form. It’s actually the most comfortable for sleeping outside.”
Karl nodded. “That works, I will sleep under the wagon, as is customary for the driver. That means Tessa can stay with you and keep up our escort job appearances.”
Lotus sighed and pulled out her bedroll. They had been spoiled for too long. But the three of them would be comfortable together in the wagon once they combined all three blankets.
Dinner was quick and silent, then the Naga Warriors took their places on either side of the fire, watching for threats coming down the road, while Dana’s golems watched the back of the wagon, closest to the road, and Ophelia took a spot on the far side of the fire.
Her massive black form looked like a hill of fur when she was sleeping, and Karl could tell that Lotus was already regretting not volunteering to sleep on top of the bear.